Chapter 14

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter


"Harry Potter."

"And there it is," Remus mutters, McGonagall honestly doesn't even look surprised.

"HARRY POTTER!"

"Sir, there's been a mistake, I didn't put my name in. I couldn't have, I'm underage," Harry tells Dumbledore after standing but not moving from his place at the table. Dumbledore looks around for a moment, at a loss for what to do, before apparently deciding this isn't the place to deal with this.

"Come with me, we shall sort this out in short order, I am sure." Harry hesitates to follow.

"Mate, go," Ron tells him, nudging him forward. Remus stands, following after Dumbledore and gesturing Harry to follow. Ron and Hermione exchange looks.

"You don't think he did it, do you?" Ron asks.

"Of course not Ron, don't be daft," Hermione tells him, "Harry's finally got everything he wants, why would he risk throwing it all away?" Ron nods, accepting the point, "Besides, he's got enough on his mind."

"What do you mean?" Hermione looks around, biting her lip. She casts a quick muffiato spell around the two of them.

"Two weeks ago Harry had this dream…"


"Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" Dumbledore asks calmly, Harry shakes his head.

"No Sir."

"Obviously he is lying."

"I am not lying!"

"Well then how did it end up in there?" Madam Maxime asks expectantly, Harry looks around and sees everyone waiting for him to answer.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Of course I don't know, I didn't do it."

"Surely if someone else were going to put your name in, you would know about it?"

"…how?"

"Harry," Remus says warningly, Harry takes a breath and calms himself.

"I swear to you, I didn't do this, I don't know how it happened, but I don't want anything to do with this competition. I happen to like being alive far too much to risk it for a quick thrill, fame I already hate having, and money I don't need." Remus internally wonders how the hell James and Harry are even related.

"I leave this to you Barty?" Dumbledore asks, Remus takes Harry's hand as they wait.

"The rules are absolute, the Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract. Mr Potter has no choice. He is, as of tonight, a Triwizard Champion."

"With all due respect, Mr Crouch, this is ridiculous!" Remus protests.

"Who is this man?"

"Remus Lupin, Harry's Uncle," Remus replies. Barty seems slightly nervous now, Remus is glad about that, "You want to force my fourteen-year-old Nephew to compete in a deadly tournament? One that is meant to be volunteer only."

"His name came out of the Goblet, it's magically binding Mr Lupin, there is nothing anyone can do."

"Why can't he just not compete?"

"Because it is binding!"

"So unbind it!"

This argument continues rather pointlessly for a while, the others chiming in on occasion.

"But Sir, isn't it unfair to the other schools if Hogwarts has two competitors?" Harry adds after a while, this sets Karkaroff and Maxime off on another tirade, backing the idea of Harry not competing.

"Meester Crouch, zis competeetion iz no place fer a boy," Fleur tells him, Krum agreeing with her.

"No! This is enough! My word goes, and I've had my word. The boy will compete!" Crouch turns and stalks out of the room, Remus clenching and unclenching his fists in obvious anger before he turns and pulls Harry close to him.

"Are you all right Prongslet?" Harry feels tears in his eyes.

"I don't want to die Uncle Moony." Remus pulls him close, holding him tightly.

"You won't Harry. I'm going to do everything I can to get you through this." Harry nods, clutching to his Uncle tightly.

"Ve vill look avter you as beest ve can," Fleur tells him, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, Cedric nodding along. Krum nods too.

"Just remember, okay, come last if you have to, I don't care. This isn't your competition. Your only job is to survive, right?" Harry frowns at his Uncle.

"Yeah, yeah. That's what I do best, isn't it? I'm literally known as 'The Boy Who Lived', how hard can it be to just keep doing that?" Everyone's encouraging looks are about as convincing as Harry had sounded.

It's a grim room indeed.


"How did it go?" Hermione asks, the entirety of Gryffindor common room looking over to hear, Harry fiddles with his sleeve nervously.

"Bloody Crouch says I have to compete. Something about binding magic, I don't know. Everyone tried to convince him otherwise, I don't think I've ever heard Uncle Moony shout so much but…" Ron claps him on the shoulder.

"It'll be all right, Mate. You've faced You-Know-Who himself how many times now?" Harry scoffs.

"It's not me I'm worried about. Well, it is, I don't want to do this and am terrified, but can you imagine how Uncle Padfoot might react? The last thing I want is him back in Azkaban because he went to speak to Crouch and it got out of hand."

"Professor Moony will calm him down. We can write to Tonks, ask her to check up on him, and I'll speak to my parents, ask them to keep an eye on him, all right?" Hermione offers, Harry nods, sinking into the sofa.

"You're really worried, aren't you? About the competition, I mean," Neville asks, Harry frowns at the ground.

"People far better than me die in this competition, what hope does a fourth year have? I just wanted a quiet year, spend time with Uncle Moony, write to Uncle Padfoot, enjoy the family I've always wanted, and now I might just lose them and, you know, everything, for no bloody reason."

"I just don't understand how your name ended up in the Goblet. I mean, someone had to put it there, right?" Ginny asks, everyone agrees, "Well, who hates you that much?"

"Malfoy would, bloody coward," Ron says.

"He's too young and the older Slytherins aren't going to have taken him seriously on this one. Besides, since Sirius' trial the Ministry has been bending over backwards in apology for him, Malfoy's not stupid enough to take on someone with that kind of backing, and he's exactly the type of person to know about it," Hermione points out.

"It could be…" Dean trails off

"What?" Harry asks, Dean looks awkward.

"Well, when Black first escaped everyone thought he was coming to kill you. Didn't Pettigrew escape Azkaban a few weeks ago?"

"Did everyone bloody know about that except me?" Harry asks, Hermione sighs.

"They didn't want you to worry."

"And if this had happened without me knowing? Where would we be?"

"In the exact same position except…oh no…"

"What?" Every Weasley in the room asks.

"That conversation we overheard between Padfoot and Professor Moony. At the end of the summer. Professor Moony made him promise not to go after Wormtail, sounded like it wasn't the first time he'd had him say it. You don't think he might…I mean if he reaches the same conclusion Dean did…" Harry groans.

"I knew I shouldn't have gotten up this morning."

"Look just, focus on the tournament, mate. Let the proper people deal with everything else," Ron tells him, Harry sighs but nods.

"And no obsessing like usual," Hermione warns, Harry rolls his eyes.

"That happened twice."

"And you nearly died both times! Not again."

"I think you'll find I nearly die a lot this year," Harry reminds her sullenly, a damp moon falls over the room.

"So, you could be super depressed about it all…" Seamus says.

"Or?" Harry asks, Seamus smirks.

"Or you could win."


Two days later Remus is in his office doing marking when his floo activates.

"Remus?" Remus looks over to see Tonks' face in the fireplace, he smiles warmly.

"Hello Dreadful, what can I do for you?" Tonks' expression does not morph into the exasperated amusement he was expecting. Instead, she looks sad and worried.

"I went to check on Sirius like you asked." Remus frowns, dread pooling in his stomach.

"And?" Tonks grimaces.

"He's gone."